Genealogy
by SadieYuki
Summary: Jamie is assigned a family history project for school, and he's on house arrest until he can he get it finished. Now sounds like a great time for a visit from Jack. As Jack looks over his shoulder at his notes, Jamie wonders why Jack is so interested in his ancestors. (previously a one-shot, now going to be a two-shot!)
1. Chapter 1

**So Christmas Eve came around, and I finally got to see Rise of the Guardians. It is now my latest obsession, and I've been anxious to add my own bit to the fandom. I ended up pulling an unexpected all-nighter last night before spring semester began today, and I chose that time to write it (so, sorry if there are any errors!), and now that I've gone to my first class of the day, I figured it's time to post this.**

**Disclaimer! If I owned Rise of the Guardians, I would also own Jack Frost...oh dear, that's way too tempting, someone get me my lawyer!**

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When Jamie had first been assigned this project, he nearly jumped for joy in his seat. The moment he heard the words "family tree," he decided this was going to be the easiest project ever. His aunt was a professional genealogist, and she was planning on visiting two days after the project had been assigned. The timing could not have been better. The moment he got home that day, he called his aunt and requested she bring some notes about their family's history, as well as any pictures she may have (they were worth extra credit!). On his own, Jamie only knew his mother's parent's names, and his mother only knew of her own grandparents, and that definitely would not warrant a decent grade. He did know, however, that his aunt had managed to trace the Bennett family to the founding routes of Burgess, all the way back to the late 1600s!

It seemed like such an easy project until his aunt had arrived with a 2-inch binder almost over capacity, filled with notes, newspaper clippings, birth, marriage, and death certificates, and pictures. On the outside was a strip of masking tape that said "Bennett" in capital letters. His aunt took pity on him though, and had also printed out a master document of the family tree, corresponding to Jamie's line only. On the very last page, next to several columns of lines, were his name and his sister's. All fifteen pages of the master document led to their names, the front page reading Nathaniel Overland.

While the master documents were certainly helpful, Jamie's vision was starting to go blurry with all of the roman numerals on the page, the columns of lines separating brothers, sisters, spouses, children, etc. His project required him to build a visual family tree, with himself at the bottom and growing up as far back as could be researched. The student who traced their family back the farthest would be receiving a prize after presentations.

Jamie only felt slightly guilty for having a professional in the family.

After a couple hours of sifting through the master pages and the massive binder, Jamie finally had an outline of his family tree. He worked his way up from himself and his sister, including spouses, children, and siblings on the tree, but neglecting to include the histories of those who married into the family. For instance, the family line that led to Nathaniel Overland was on his grandfather's side of the family, so while he included his grandmother on the outline, he did not include her parents.

Jamie had just begun the task of matching up pictures to the names he had written down when a soft thud sounded on his window. Glancing over, a large smile donned his face as he saw the remnants of a snowball on the glass, and the cheeky smirk of a white-haired winter spirit behind it.

Welcoming the distraction, he leapt from his chair and made it to the window in two strides. By this time, Jack was chuckling fondly outside, backing up a bit as Jamie pushed the window open.

"Hey, kiddo," Jack greeted, drifting into the room with a slight breeze in his wake. "You up for a snowball fight?" Four years had passed since Jamie had met the Guardians and became Jack's first believer, and since then Jack constantly visited during the winter months.

Jamie looked past the Guardian of Fun and out the window, and noticed with regret that it had begun to snow. If only he had worked on his project earlier! "I wish," he huffed, stalking back to his seat and landing dramatically in his chair. "I have a project due tomorrow, and I'm on lock-down until it's finished."

"Do you need a snow day for tomorrow then?" Jack winked playfully before walking closer to the desk. "What are you working on anyway?"

"We need to make a family tree. Luckily for me, my aunt is a genealogist and has a bunch of information on our family's history. Unluckily for me, my aunt is a genealogist and has a _bunch _of information on our family's history," Jamie sighed, waving his hands around the mess accumulated on his desk. "I've managed to sort through all the names, so now I'm just trying to put a face to the names."

"That is a _lot _of pictures," Jack whistled, leaning over Jamie's shoulder to get a better look. "Looks like you've got your work cut out for yo-"

Jack's voice cut off suddenly, and Jamie looked behind him to see what had stopped the spirit. Jack's eyes were wide, staring in disbelief at something on the desk. Jack's hand slowly drifted forward, and Jamie followed its path until it landed on a faded picture. The picture itself was photocopied due to the age, the caption placing the original date at 1714. The picture itself seemed to be a painting of a young girl with shoulder-length hair and side-cut bangs.

"Who is that?" Jack whispered breathlessly.

Jamie consulted his notes quickly, "This says her name was Emmaline Overland, daughter of Nathaniel and Margaret Overland." Jamie looked over some of the pictures he had already sorted, having recognized the name, and fished out another picture. "Here's another one of her, twenty or so years later. 'Samuel Tupper, married to Emmaline Overland, 1735.' She's one of the last names my aunt could get, Nathaniel being the farthest." Jack soundlessly reached over to take the second photo, and Jamie was surprised to find tears in his eyes.

"I never knew what happened to her," he whispered, running his thumb over the photo.

"You _knew _her?" Jamie asked, astounded.

Jack nodded numbly. "Did Nathaniel have another kid?"

"Uh..." Jamie looked over his notes again, and then scanned the master list. "Yeah, an older son named Jackson...wait!" Jamie spun around and grinned at Jack with excited eyes. "Is that you?!"

"Must be," Jack said mutely, handing the photo back to Jamie.

"Wait, so that means I'm related to you! I'm related to Jack Frost, that's so cool!" Jamie laughed, looking through the binder. "Maybe I can find a picture of you in here."

"There," Jack said suddenly, pointing at one of the photos. "I think that's me," he added with a bemused smile.

"But your hair is dark," Jamie twisted his mouth skeptically.

Jack laughed, which Jamie noted had been the first time in the last several minutes. "My hair hasn't always been white, kiddo." Jamie grinned sheepishly before turning back to his notes. Jack's name caught his eye again, and suddenly his grin melted into a frown. Jack seemed to notice the change pretty quickly. "What's up?"

"'Jackson Overland, born November 29th, 1695 in Burgess, Pennsylvania,'" Jamie read quietly, "'deceased December 21st, 1712; cause of death: drowning.'" Jack stilled as Jamie spun in his chair to face him. "You _drowned_?" Jamie whispered brokenly. "That's _awful!_"

As upset as Jack was at the mention of his death, he moved the feelings aside in favor of the distressed teen in front of him. "Hey," Jack said soothingly, crouching to eye level and placing a hand on Jamie's shoulder. "That was 304 years ago, and I haven't drowned since," he added, trying to add a comedic flare to the situation.

Jamie tried to laugh, but then he could not help himself from asking, "What happened?"

Jack sighed, and Jamie saw his shoulders slump, his trusty staff cradled in the crook of his arm. "My sister and I went skating one day on the pond, but the ice was thinner than we thought. The ice cracked under both of our feet, and though I managed to push her onto thicker ice, I ended up throwing myself onto thinner ice at the same time, and I fell in," Jack explained in a very detached tone.

"So you saved her," Jamie smiled.

Jack returned the smile slowly as he straightened up. "Yup," he answered quickly. He glanced at the desk and the mess of family information thrown across it. "Well, it looks like you have a lot of work to do, so we'll postpone that snowball fight to tomorrow?" Jack said with a smirk before turning back to Jamie and ruffling his hair.

"Hey, what was that for?" Jamie cried out indignantly, laughter playing on his words.

Jack did not answer the question as he tossed his staff from its leisurely position to his right hand and started to make his way towards the door. "Thank you," he said finally, as he pushed the window open.

"What for?" Jamie repeated, curious at the winter spirit's choice of words.

"I never knew her name until now, so thanks," Jack smiled, leaping onto the window sill. "You better ace that project!" He added with a smirk as the wind scooped him up and carried him out the window.

Jamie stayed still for a moment until the chilled winter breeze brought him out of his thoughts. He dragged himself over to the window and pulled it closed, watching as the blue-hooded spirit flew over the tree line. He made his way back to his project, mulling over what had just happened with Jack. He could not believe that Jack had not known his own sister's name. Jamie tried to imagine what it would be like only knowing Sophie's face but not knowing what to call her. The thought caused a shiver to pass through him, and he tried to bring his focus back to his project. The first thing his eyes found was the picture of Jack, and Jamie suddenly remembered one specific part of their conversation.

"THAT IS SO COOL!"

"Jamie, that does _not _sound like homework!" his mother called up the stairs.

"Sorry, Mom!" he called back sheepishly, but the grin would not leave his face. If only he could add this to his project with some sort of proof, it would be the ultimate extra credit!

After all, who else in his class could claim that they were a direct descendant of Jack Frost?!

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**This was originally going to be a one-shot, but **SkyHighFan **gave me an idea for a follow-up chapter, so that will be up soon!**_  
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**If anyone's curious, most of Jamie's struggles with his project stemmed from my own troubles with a family history project. I had a similar project, and I live with my grandmother, who is a leisurely genealogist. She has almost 100 binders full of family history, and she can date my family back to the 1200s in England! But of course, when she gave me her materials, it was almost impossible to make heads or tails of anything, even with the master descendant outline she gave me.**

**For those of you waiting for Life's Curse, Death's Gift, I'm working on it, I promise! :) I did add a cover photo for that story though, featuring Jack as the base of Harry and Danny. It was fun to make, check it out!**

**Shameless promotion to check out my tumblr...SadieYuki as always!**

**Peace out!  
-Sadie**


	2. Chapter 2

**This is probably the fastest I've ever updated a story, but if I didn't do it today, it probably wouldn't have been written since it wouldn't have been fresh on my mind. Keep in mind I've been awake for 36 hours by now, so again, I apologize for any errors! Thanks to **SkyHighFan** for the idea for this added chapter!**

**Disclaimer! My lawyers are still working on it...**

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Jamie held his head in one hand, the other hand spinning a mechanical pencil idly as another student presented their family history project. He really did not understand what feathers had to do with her project, and he was trying to pay attention to find out just that, but staring at the monstrosity of the poster, Jamie had to wonder if the Tooth Fairy was feeling okay if she molted that many feathers over this poor girl's poster.

A dull, automated clapping pierced his thoughts as the class mechanically applauded their classmate's report. The girl smiled, unclipped her poster from the board, and waltzed back to her seat, two stray feathers falling in her wake.

"Jamie Bennett, you're up," his teacher called.

Jamie grinned and picked up his poster board, expertly decorated the night before. His body blocked the class's view from the poster as he pinned it to the wall. Once he was satisfied that the poster would stay, he grinned again at his work before moving out of the way and turning to face the class.

Jamie had sketched his family tree in the form of vines, starting with himself and a small photo of Sophie near the base of the board, and snaking up fifteen levels before reaching the top of the board, where Nathaniel Overland's name and picture stood prominent, the third largest photo on the board. Throughout the gaps in the tree, Jamie had added newspaper clippings, certificates, and pictures, each member of the tree having at least one extra addition. The rest of the space was colored by Jamie's hand, displaying his growing skills in art.

"As you guys know, my name's Jamie Bennett, and this is my family tree," he said gesturing to the project behind him, beginning his semi-rehearsed presentation. "When I first started this project, I would have been able to show you a tree of myself, my little sister, my mom and aunt, and my grandparents, and I would be able to claim that I'm related to one of the founding families of Burgess. Of course, I wouldn't have had any proof of it and that would have been it. But with the help of my family and a little digging," – _'and a massive binder!''_– "I managed to string the pieces together and connect the dots to the Overland family."

Jamie continued his presentation, working from his grandparents' generation highlights, mentioning important moments in history of the town, and pointing out interesting fun facts, such as his great-great-great grandfather had had fourteen siblings, a criminal scandal involved his great-great-great-great grand aunt, and his great-great-great-great-great grandfather had six toes on one foot.

As his allotted time began to near its end, Jamie finally reached the Overland family. "Robert Tupper was the only child of Samuel Tupper, and his wife, Emmaline Overland Tupper. At this point of the project, it's obvious how my family connects to the founding roots of Nathaniel Overland, but that's not really what I want to talk about anymore. While my goal for this project had been to prove my relationship to Nathaniel, I ended up being more invested in his son, Jackson."

Jamie took a deep breath, glancing at the clock quickly to see how much time he had left. As his eyes roamed, his gaze caught on to a figure perched on the ledge outside the classroom window. Grinning slightly and wondering how long his white-haired friend had been there, Jamie focused on presenting the last part of his project.

"Jackson Overland was Emma's older brother, and easily the most important person on this board," Jamie stated, subtly explaining why Jack's picture took up more space on the board than Jamie's own picture. "Though the life expectancy of the early 1700s was admittedly not the best, no one will argue that Jackson died years before his time. His death records claim that he drowned shortly after his 17th birthday, but the only body of water in the Burgess area is the pond in the woods. I wondered how he had died, and with the help of a good friend of mine, I learned what really happened."

Jamie took a deep breath before plunging into the story. "Jack and his sister decided to celebrate the first day of winter by going to the pond in the woods. Jack had promised to teach Emma how to ice skate, and the weather had been cool enough recently for the ice to freeze over. They got to the lake, and after testing the ice a bit, they ventured farther onto the frozen surface. Unknown to the pair, they had started to drift towards thinner ice, and they didn't notice until they heard the distinct crack of ice under Emma's skates. As Jack noticed her plight, he took off his own skates and discarded them to the side, even as the ice beneath him began to crack as well. Keeping his sister calm, he helped to direct her onto thicker ice, showing her how to move by taking his own dangerous steps towards his abandoned shepherd's staff. As Emma began to follow his lead, the cracks began to spread, even with his direction. The moment Emma was close enough, Jack lunged forward, hooked the staff around her waist, and flung her onto thicker ice. Unfortunately, the momentum pulled Jack back onto the thin ice, and moments after seeing his little sister to safety, he fell through the ice."

Jamie looked around the classroom and noticed that several of the girls had tears in their eyes, while the subject of the story kept a calm smile on his face, tears streaming down his own cheeks. Jamie flashed him a quick smile before wrapping up his project.

"At first, all I cared about for this project was linking my family to the founding of this town, but I discovered something so much better," Jamie smiled. "I found out that I'm the direct descendant of a hero, someone who is willing to put their family above everything else, even their own life, and that is the coolest thing ever."

"You're not his direct descendant if you're related through his sister," a student in the front interjected, not unkindly.

Jamie's smile faltered for a moment, but then he grinned. "He gave up his life for his sister, and she would have died if it weren't for him," Jamie explained. "He's the direct reason that my family exists today, and I think that's close enough. He was a hero then, and he's a hero now." Jamie finished, discreetly sharing a grin with the sheepish looking spirit in the window.

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**And that's it! Thanks so much for reading! Feel free to drop a review if you have any questions (or, you know, just to be nice :D).**

**Peace out!  
-Sadie**


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